


Christmas Carols

by ashesandhoney



Category: The Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Seasonal, just a lot of Fluff really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 21:51:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8864056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashesandhoney/pseuds/ashesandhoney
Summary: A series of very short shorts about Jem and Tessa and the Christmas season, set after CP2.





	1. Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

"Do you really want to go tonight?"

Jem stuck his head into the living room. His tie hung around his neck and his shirt was only half buttoned and he hadn't brushed his hair yet. Tessa was standing with a shoulder leaned against the window. She didn't turn to look at him. All he could see was dark glass and her reflection. Her eyes were locked on some point far away. Or maybe long ago.

"I seem to remember you bullying me into agreeing to this 'little get together' or whatever it was you called it," he said.

"I didn't bully you," she said.

"Much."

She cracked a half smile that he saw in the reflection more than he saw it on her face. He crossed the room to her and leaned against the glass beside her. It was cold out there. Even through the shirt and jacket, the glass was frigid. He didn't move. Tessa glanced at him, her hair was swept up and twisted into a knot at the back of her head. It was elegant and simple and it made her look older than her face was though no where near as old as she was.

"Why the change of heart?" Jem asked.

She raised her chin in a gesture at the dark. Jem had been watching her and not looking out at the rest of the world. He tilted his head and looked out at a streetlight across the road from them. The snow was flying thick and fast between them and it. She reached out and caught his tie between her fingers and played with it. He watched her finger tips against the fabric and the world narrowed down to her. 

"Our shoes will get all wet in the snow," he said.

"It would be terrible, it would ruin them," she said.

"Indeed, we mustn't risk it."

"It could even be hazardous."

"True, best to stay here."

Jem reached out and pulled her in so he could wrap his arms around her and set his chin on her hair. She cuddled in and wrapped her arms around his waist. She slipped her cold hands up under his shirt and he arched his back from them but she just hugged him a little tighter and he gave up and let her warm herself against his skin as he held onto her. 


	2. Oh Ho, The Mistletoe, Hung Where You Can See

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is some very mild angst in this one.  
> Also dick jokes.

Jem grabbed her by the hand and pulled her through the familiar halls. She thought this was a terrible idea but he had wanted to come. He had wanted to see this building again as himself. She hadn't been back since long before Jamie had died. She had abandoned the building as a tomb full of memories. The London Institute had been home for so long and she felt like there were little pieces of herself and her life hiding behind every old corner and woven into every ancient tapestry.

Jessamine's ghost floating around like a hint of times long gone hadn't helped. Even when Tessa hadn't been able to see her, knowing she was there somewhere had felt unfair in a way that she had hated. She wouldn't wish being trapped on as a ghost on anyone let alone someone she loved but still, Jessie had been there and everyone Tessa had loved was somewhere else. It was a relief that Jessie was there now - wherever there was - but even that felt like a loss to Tessa some days, that ghostly link was gone too.

The London Institute's Christmas Ball was big enough that they had been able to blend into the crowd where they knew almost no one. They hadn't even had proper invites but Brother Zachariah didn't really need one and no one turned Tessa away when she was with him. They had slipped away after the dancing had begun. Jem hadn't told her where he wanted to go, only that he wanted to look around. He had led her down the halls and had lapsed into moments where he stared off into space without explanation.

"What decade are you in right now?" Tessa asked.

"Hmm?" Jem said.

They were standing in the middle of a hallway that looked like every other hallway but Tessa knew three different routes to a bedroom that was no longer hers and two to the library and another three to the kitchens. She felt young and immeasurably old all at once.

"You're doing an immortal thing."

"I'm not an immortal."

"I know," Tessa said and managed to keep her tone teasing enough that he didn't notice how much that was weighing on her in this place. "But you're old enough to be doing it. To be looking at a place and seeing some memory no one else remembers. Tell me, what decade are you in?"

"Early in the 1870s," he said. "Look at that tapestry, Will thought it was funny when he was 13 to go along and point out all the decorations that looked like cocks."

"I don't think I want you to point them out to me, thank you very much," Tessa said.

He started to point past her and she pushed his hand away. He tried again and she grabbed his sleeve and said, "Stop pointing out dicks in expensive art objects!"

"There's one here, I think that it might be on purpose," he said grabbing her hand so he could reach around her without her stopping him to point out something that did look an awful lot like a penis. She snorted out a laugh and then spun and crossed her arms. Once the smile had started, she couldn't stop it. He was still pointing past her and he rested his elbow on her shoulder. He was very close.

"Damn it," she said.

"What?" he asked.

"Now you've got me doing it, that there looks like boobs," she said pointing at something past him.

He turned and his smile broke wider and he giggled, "It really does."

She laughed back and leaned in to bury her face in his neck and block out the unintentionally phallic angel motifs on the walls around them. By the time they made it back to the Great Hall, they were both laughing like children and leaning together. It was nearing midnight and there were enough drunks in the crowd that they didn't stand out.

Tessa stopped him in the doorway, between the drafty quiet hallways and the bustling dance floor. He raised his eyebrows at her, laughter still etched into every line of his face. She glanced upwards and smirked at him. A piece of mistletoe hung above them and Jem tilted his head all the way back to look at it before turning his attention back to her, his smiling shifting just a little bit.

She reached out and cupped his face in her hands and pulled him in for a kiss.


	3. Come On, It's Lovely Weather, For a Sleigh Ride Together

Tessa was bundled up in a heavy coat and a soft blue scarf that made her eyes look bright in the afternoon light. It was a chilly day and overcast but it was stubbornly not snowy. At all. The ground was brown and the grass was yellowed and sad looking. It took something away from Jem's intended plan for the day but he wasn't letting that dampen his spirits as he looped Tessa's hand over his arm so he could escort her down the street. She gave him a smile.

"I googled this," Jem admitted.

"Googled it?" Tessa said.

"It's supposed to be one of the most romantic things to do in New York."

"That was your criteria?"

"Is it a bad criteria?"

"No, of course not, what are we doing?"

"It's a surprise."

"A surprise that you googled," she said with a laugh.

"Mock me at your own risk, Gray," he said.

She hit him with her hip in a most unladylike way that sent him careening sideways and stumbling to get back on his feet. She pulled him back into place beside her with a self satisfied smirk. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her temple and then led her the rest of the way down the street and into the park.

He had hired a carriage. It should have been a sleigh, he had been imagining a sleigh and a forest but this was New York and a carriage and Central Park was as close as he could get on short notice. He could have let it wait but once the urge had struck him, he had wanted it sooner rather than later. She had been taking such joy in taking him around the city to do Christmas things, the kinds of things that modern mundanes did and he had wanted to return the favour. he had wanted to be the one to find something for them to do and a sleigh ride through the snow had seemed like such a good idea.

Except that December had missed the memo that it was a winter month and winter was supposed to mean snow.

Still Tessa had broken into a grin when she'd seen the open air carriages and the teams of horses and if she didn't mind that the weather wasn't living up to expectations, then he wouldn't let it bother him either. She paused beside the horses to smile at them. They were both a deep chestnut colour and one had a white spot on his nose. Tessa asked the driver before she rubbed the animal's neck and told him that he was very pretty.

The carriage seats were high and open to the air, Tessa cuddled in beside him as the horses started out down the road. It was a familiar sound, the sound of hooves and the clatter of wheels. The rock and gait of a horse drawn carriage brought back a mix of memories Jem couldn't quite sort through, a memory of time and place but nothing specific. The park looked as it always did, they had walked it before but Jem found himself watching for details that might have been there when Tessa had lived in this city as a child, more than a hundred years before.

"This is perfect," she said.

"It needs snow," he said.

"I'm not the world's strongest warlock but even I can do snow."

He missed whatever hand signal or spell she used but a few moments later, a single flake swirled down and landed on his cheek. He was about to say something teasing when the flurry started in earnest and he was left speechless. It was small and just over them, even the drive was spared more than a few errant flakes but over them the snow fell in a little personal storm. Flakes clung to her eyelashes and dusted the black fabric of his jacket.

"It's lovely weather," he said.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm calling this done because it was a spur of the moment thing but I may add to it later. Ice skating should happen for example.


End file.
